Android String Resource

Question

My application requires about 50,000 different strings. I could store them in a database, but I was wondering if it is possible and advisable to store them as string resources.

Is it a good approach to store lots of string in string.xml file?
How many string we can store in string.xml file ?
Searching Cost of string by name ? like

Code Snippet:

private String getStringResourceByName(String aString) {
    String packageName = getPackageName();
    int resId = getResources().getIdentifier(aString, "string", packageName);
    return getString(resId);
}

Are there any other approach that i can use?

its very logical ..if someone can understand – K Guru Dec 20 '14 at 04:27 — K Guru, Dec 20 '14 at 04:27
But that only answers point number 2... – Sanjay Manohar Dec 20 '14 at 04:31 — Sanjay Manohar, Dec 20 '14 at 04:31
@OneWay not exactly..please read the complete question – K Guru Dec 20 '14 at 04:32 — K Guru, Dec 20 '14 at 04:32
why dont use the data in a SQLite File ? – Gilberto Ibarra Dec 20 '14 at 07:41 — Gilberto Ibarra, Dec 20 '14 at 07:41
@OneWay what type of more detail? – K Guru Dec 28 '14 at 16:41 — K Guru, Dec 28 '14 at 16:41

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:12

Is a bit hard to frame this answer but let me try:

How many string we can store in string.xml file ?

First at all, resources id are compiled as constants in R class. That said, in Limitations of the Java Virtual Machine say:

The per-class or per-interface constant pool is limited to 65535 entries by the 16-bit constant_pool_count field of the ClassFile structure (§4.1). This acts as an internal limit on the total complexity of a single class or interface.

So, 50k string resources seems possible. As skeptic, after a bit of experimenting, it seems that you can have up ~33k string resources in a new blank project. Beyond this limit, it produces a compile-time error "too many constants".

Searching Cost of string by name ?

In linked project I did basic comparision between getResources().getIdentifier(..); (by name) and getResources().getString(id); (by id).

Get by id is 13x faster than get by name.

I've also compared it with SQLite. getResources().getIdentifier(..); is 1.5x faster than SELECT * FROM table WHERE name = 'string_x'

Is it a good approach to store lots of string in string.xml file ?

IMHO, no.

Pros:

GetResurceByName it's just 1.5x faster than SQLite.

Cons:

Increase compile time significantly.
Guaranteed that at some point you will receive 'too many constants'.
It's hard to localize. The 2^16 limit involves all translations.

Another Approach?

This post could help you to ship the application with a pre populated database with your app: Ship an application with a database

Android String Resource

1 Answers1